Trail management method, system, and program

ABSTRACT

A trail management system acquires and manages operation contents in a PC that is provided with an operation function including a document transcription function. When a user performs a transcription operation, a server acquires operation information and stores it as chronological data. The operation information contains time of the transcription operation, a user name, a value transcribed by the transcription operation, document specification information for specifying a transcription origin document during the transcription operation, location specification information for specifying a transcription origin location in the transcription origin document, document specification information for specifying a transcription destination document during the transcription operation, and location specification information for specifying a transcription destination location in the transcription origin document. Using a PC, an administrator searches for chronological data in accordance with a search condition supplied to search for the chronological data and displays a search result on the PC.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present application claims priority from Japanese patent applicationJP2009-165735 filed on Jul. 14, 2009, the content of which is herebyincorporated by reference into this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a technology of acquiring and managinga trail in a system that manages trails such as corporate activities.

In recent years, companies are required to prove themselves free frominjustice such as information leakage or data falsification in theprocess of operations in order to be compliant with regulations or provethe legitimacy of corporate activities to stockholders and customers.Particularly, IT systems are presently involved in most of corporateactivities. There is a need for a technology of easily and strictlyacquiring and managing corporate activity trails using the IT systems.

Generally, the IT system in a company is broadly configured as twogroups. One includes client personal computers (PCs) employeespersonally use. The other includes servers that operate various corecorporate applications such as ordering applications and CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) applications. An employee carries out hisor her work while using a PC to read or write e-mail, use a documentfile attached to the e-mail for a spreadsheet application or aword-processing application, or use various core corporate applicationssupplied from the server through a browser.

Once data is input to a core corporate application, the server strictlyrecords and manages processes concerning who accessed the data at whichtime, for example. On the PC, the employee carries out his or her workwhile using multiple applications such as an e-mail program and aspreadsheet application to transcribe work-related critical data such as“price” and “quantity” from one document file to another. Depending oncases, the employee may change the values. Basically, these processesare not recorded or managed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-516775proposes the technology that aims to address this problem. According tothe technology, a monitor is resident in the operating system (OS) of aPC. The monitor detects document file access events such as moving,copying, and renaming a file. The monitor creates an effectiveness graphto visualize dependency relation between document files and preventdocument files from leaking.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-269020proposes the related technology. The technology acquires informationabout employee operations such as copy and paste. Based on theinformation, the technology forms a static link between locations ofdocument files. When a document file contains an error at a givenlocation, the technology determines an influence of the error on whichfile at which locations.

In order to prove the legitimacy of corporate activities, a system needsto satisfy such demands as: tracing back to a person who originallyrecorded the price on a document file; confirming that no one falsifiesthe price at any part of the link to this document file; and so on.

The technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2006-516775 cannot manage a data flow in smaller unitsthan document files such as “price” and “quantity” contained in adocument file. The technology makes it necessary to manually check alldocument files historically related to the document file that containsan interested location, requiring a large amount of time and effort. Thetechnology does not manage location changing operations or locationvalues. If data may be falsified, the technology cannot determine whenand who changed the data.

The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-OpenPublication No. 2008-269020 uses a static link to manage the dependencyrelation of copy and paste between document file locations. Thetechnology is incapable of tracing when multiple copy and pasteoperations are performed between locations or when a bidirectional linkis formed between locations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a trail managementsystem capable of easily managing and recognizing a data flow in unitsof locations such as “price” or “quantity” contained in a document file.

To address the problem, the present invention provides a trailmanagement method, a system, and a program as follows. The trailmanagement method uses a process section to acquire and manage contentsof an operation performed by a user in a computer having an operationfunction including a document transcription function. The processsection acquires operation information including: time of atranscription operation performed by the user; a name of the user; avalue transcribed by the transcription operation; document specificationinformation that specifies a transcription origin document in thetranscription operation; location specification information thatspecifies a transcription origin location in the transcription origindocument; document specification information that specifies atranscription destination document in the transcription operation; andlocation specification information that specifies a transcriptiondestination location in the transcription destination document. Theprocess section stores the acquired operation information inchronological data, searches for the chronological data in accordancewith a search condition for searching for the chronological data, andoutputs a searched result.

The present invention provides a trail management method, a system, anda program as follows. The operation function of the computer includes achange function for a document. When the user performs a changeoperation, the process section acquires change operation information asthe operation information. The change operation information includes:time to perform the change operation; a name of the user; a valuechanged by the change operation; document specification information thatspecifies a change destination document in the change operation; andlocation specification information that specifies a change destinationlocation in the change destination document.

The present invention provides a trail management method, a system, anda program as follows. The search condition includes time, documentspecification information, and location specification information. Theprocess section searches for the chronological data with respect to asearch target specified by location specification information of thesearch condition in a document specified by document specificationinformation of the search condition at time in the search condition,repeatedly searches for a transcription origin corresponding to thesearch target, extracts a historical route for the transcriptionoperation and the change operation up to the search target, and outputsthe extracted historical route.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a trail managementsystem is included in a computer having an operation function includinga document transcription function and acquires and manages contents ofan operation performed by a user. The system is configured to include:an operation information acquisition function for acquiring operationinformation including time of a transcription operation performed by theuser, a name of the user, a value transcribed by the transcriptionoperation, document specification information for specifying atranscription origin document during the transcription operation,location specification information for specifying a transcription originlocation in the transcription origin document, document specificationinformation for specifying a transcription destination document duringthe transcription operation, and location specification information forspecifying a transcription destination location in the transcriptiondestination document; a chronological storage function for storing, aschronological data, the operation information acquired by the operationinformation acquisition function; a search condition input function foran administrator to enter a search condition for searching forchronological data; a chronological search function for searching forthe chronological data in accordance with a search condition entered byan administrator; and a search result display function as a searchresult output function for outputting a search result from thechronological search function.

The present invention makes it possible to easily manage and recognizedata distribution in units of locations such as “money amount” and“quantity” contained in a document.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a systemaccording to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing usage of a user PC accordingto the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing usage of an administrator PCaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing usage of a chronologicalmanagement server according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of inputoperation information according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of input operationinformation according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying a data structure ofchronological data according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying a search graphic userinterface (GUI) screen according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an input operation acquisitionfunction for transcription operation according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing the input operation acquisitionfunction for change operation according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing the input operation acquisitionfunction according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flaw diagram showing a chronological search functionaccording to the first embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing terminal record search according tothe first embodiment;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing visualtranscription operation according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a principle of estimating avisual transcription origin candidate according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a table for categorizinglocation captions according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of inputoperation information for visual transcription operation according tothe second embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram showing the input operation acquisitionfunction including visual transcription operation according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying data configuration of adisplay character string buffer according to the second embodiment; and

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram showing a process of determining change orvisual transcription and acquiring related information according to thesecond embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout thisspecification, the term “computer” may be replaced by “calculator.” Theterm “time” may be replaced by “time stamp.”

First Embodiment

FIGS. 1 through 13 illustrate a trail management system according to afirst embodiment. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showinga system according to a first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the embodiment includes: a PC 0102 a user 0101 uses;a PC 0122 and a chronological management server 0141 a user 0121 uses; aPC 0162 an administrator 0161 uses; and a communication network 0183that connects these components with each other. FIG. 1 omitsillustration of a file server or Web server for simplicity.

For example, a document signifies a document file locally stored in thePC 0102, a document file stored in a file server connected to thecommunication network 0183, or HTML data stored in a Web serverconnected to the communication network 0183.

A document location signifies an object such as “price” or “quantity”contained in the document. With respect to a spreadsheet application,for example, the document location represents each cell in a table asthe document. With respect to a browser, the document locationrepresents each HTML node With respect to a text document, the documentlocation represents a specified number of characters on a given line.

Using the PC 0102, the user 0101 simultaneously opens, browses, or editsmultiple documents. As shown in FIG. 1 as an example, the user 0101transcribes value “α” from a location 0106 in a document A 0103 to alocation 0107 in a document B 0104 or changes value “α” at the location0107 in the document B 0104 to value “ζ.”

The input operation information acquisition function 0109 acquires inputoperation information 0181 and transmits it to the chronologicalmanagement server 0141. When the user 0101 performs a transcriptionoperation such as copy and paste, the input operation information 0181represents “who” transcribes “which value” from “which location of whichdocument” to “which location of which document” at “which time.” Whenthe user 0101 performs a change operation, the input operationinformation 0181 represents “who” changes “which location of whichdocument” to “which value” at “which time.”

The input operation information will be described with reference toFIGS. 5 and 6. The PC 0122 the user 0121 uses has the same configurationas that of the PC 0102 and a detailed description is omitted forsimplicity.

A chronological server 0141 includes a chronological storage function0142 and a chronological search function 0144. The chronological storagefunction 0142 receives input operation information 0181 transmitted fromthe PC 0102 or input operation information 0182 transmitted from the PC0122. The chronological storage function 0142 then stores these piecesof information as chronological data. 0143.

The chronological search function 0144 receives a search conditiontransmitted from the administrator PC 0162. The chronological searchfunction 0144 searches the chronological data 0143 stored by thechronological storage function 0142 in accordance with the receivedsearch condition. The chronological search function 0144 transmitssearch result data to the administrator PC 0162. Items contained in thechronological data will be described later in further detail withreference to FIG. 7.

The administrator PC162 includes a search GUI function 0163. The searchGUI function 0163 displays a search GUI screen 0164 that includes asearch condition input section 0165 and a search result display section0166. The search result display section 0166 is an example of a searchresult output section. Obviously, the search result output function mayuse the other output forms.

The search GUI function 0163 acquires the search condition from theadministrator 0161 via the search condition input section 0165. Thesearch GUI function 0163 transmits the search condition to a searchfunction 0144 of the chronological management server 0141 and receives asearch result. The search GUI function 0163 displays the search resulton the search result display section 0166. The search GUI screen will bedescribed later in detail with reference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing that the user 0101 manipulatesa document 0222 using a document application 0221 on the PC 0102.

The PC 0102 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 0201, ROM 0202, acommunication device 0203, a keyboard 0204, a mouse 0205, RAM 0206, anexternal storage device 0207, and a display device 0208.

The CPU 0201 executes a basic input/output system (BIOS) and variousapplications stored in the ROM 0202. The external storage device 0207stores the OS and various programs. The CPU 0201 uses the RAM 0206 as awork area for executing an OS 0224, the document application 0221, or aninput operation information acquisition program 0223. The RAM 0206 isalso used as a temporary storage place used for various applications.The communication device 0203 is connected to the communication network0183. Via the communication network 0183, the communication device 0203exchanges data with the chronological management server 0141 and anunshown file server or Web server.

Obviously, the programs executed by the CPU 0201 may be previouslystored in various storage sections or in portable storage media, or maybe imported from outside via the communication network as needed. Thesame applies to CPU-executed programs on the other PCs or servers.

When the document 0222 is stored in the RAM 0206, the documentapplication 0221 or the OS 0224 displays the contents of the document0222 as a window screen 0209 on the display device 0208.

While viewing the window screen 0209, the user 0101 uses the keyboard0204 and the mouse 0205 to manipulate the document 0222. FIG. 2 showsonly one set of the document application 0221 and the document 0222 forsimplicity. Generally, multiple sets of document applications anddocuments are used simultaneously.

The input operation information acquisition program 0223 provides theinput operation information acquisition function 0109 in FIG. 1. Theinput operation information acquisition program 0223 always monitors howthe user 0101 manipulates the document 0222. The input operationinformation acquisition program 0223 acquires the input operationinformation 0181 in FIG. 1 and transmits it to the chronologicalmanagement server 0141. The input operation information acquisitionfunction 0109 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 9 through11. The user 0121 manipulates document data using the documentapplication on the PC 0122 similarly to FIG. 2 and a description isomitted for simplicity.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing how the administrator 0161searches the input operation information for the chronological data 0143using a search GUI program on the PC 0162.

The PC 0162 includes a CPU 0301, ROM 0302, a communication device 0303,a keyboard 0304, a mouse 0305, RAM 0306, an external storage device0307, and a display device 0308.

The CPU 0301 executes BIOS and various applications stored in the ROM0302. The external storage device 0307 stores the OS and variousprograms. The CPU 0301 uses the RAM 0306 as a work area for executing anOS 0312 and a search GUI program 0311. The RAM 0306 is also used as atemporary storage place used for various applications. The communicationdevice 0303 is connected to the communication network 0183. Via thecommunication network 0183, the communication device 0303 exchanges datawith the chronological management server 0141.

The search GUI program 0311 displays the search GUI screen 0164 on thedisplay device 0308. While viewing the window screen 0164, theadministrator 0161 operates the keyboard 0304 and the mouse 0305 to usethe search GUI program.

FIG. 4 exemplifying the configuration of the chronological managementserver 0141. The chronological management server 0141 includes a CPU0401, ROM 0402, a communication device 0403, RAM 0406, and an externalstorage device 0407. The CPU 0401 executes BIOS and various applicationsstored in the ROM 0402. The external storage device 0407 stores the OSand various programs.

The CPU 0401 uses the RAM 0406 as a work area for executing an OS 0413,a chronological storage program 0411 and a chronological search program0412. The RAM 0406 is also used as a temporary storage place used forvarious applications. The communication device 0403 is connected to thecommunication network 0183. Via the communication network 0183, thecommunication device 0403 exchanges data with the PC 0102, the PC 0122,and the PC 0162.

The chronological storage program 0411 provides the chronologicalstorage function 0142. The chronological storage program 0411 receivesthe input operation information 0181 and the input operation information182 from the input operation information acquisition function 0109 ofthe PC 0102 and the input operation information acquisition function0129 of the PC 0122 via the communication network 0183. Thechronological storage program 0411 stores these pieces of information aschronological data 0414 in the external storage device 0407.

The chronological search program 0412 provides the chronological searchfunction 0144. The chronological search program 0412 receives a searchcondition from the search GUI function 0163 via the communicationnetwork 0183. The chronological search program 0412 searches thechronological data 0143 in accordance with the search condition andtransmits a search result to the search GUI function 0163. Thechronological search function 0144 will be described later withreference to FIGS. 12 and 13.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of the inputoperation information 0181 or 0182 acquired from the PC 0102 or 0122described above.

The input operation information 0181 or 0182 includes time 0511 at whichthe user manipulates the document, a user name 0512, an operation name0513, and operation-specific information 0514. As mentioned above, theembodiment concerns two types of operations, i.e., the transcriptionoperation and the change operation. Accordingly, the operation name 0513is provided with either value, “transcription” or “change.”

The operation-specific information 0514 is provided with the datastructure of operation-specific information 0520 when the operation name0513 is assigned “transcription.” The operation-specific information0514 is provided with the data structure of operation-specificinformation 0540 when the operation name 0513 is assigned “change.”

The operation-specific information 0520 for the transcription operationincludes transcription origin information 0521, transcriptiondestination information 0524, and a transcribed value 0527.

The transcription origin information 0522 further includes documentspecification information 0522 and location specification information0523. The document specification information 0522 uniquely identifiesthe document as a copy origin. The location specification information0523 uniquely identifies a location copied to the document.

The transcription destination information 0524 includes documentspecification information 0525 and location specification information0526. The document specification information 0525 uniquely identifiesthe document as a paste destination. The location specificationinformation 0526 uniquely identifies a location pasted to the document.

The operation-specific information 0540 for the change operationincludes change destination information 0541 and a changed value 0544.

The change destination information 0541 further includes documentspecification information 0542 and location specification information0543. The document specification information 0542 uniquely identifiesthe document to be changed. The location specification information 0543uniquely identifies the location changed in the document.

When the document is a document file, for example, the documentspecification information uses an absolute path to the position wherethe document file is stored, or a hash value such as Message DigestAlgorithm (MD) 5 or Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) for the document file.When the document is HyperText Markup Language (HTML) data, the documentspecification information uses a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or aUniform Resource Identifier (URI) associated with the HTML data.

These pieces of document specification information are just provided asexamples and the embodiment is not limited thereto. When the document isassociated with a spreadsheet application, for example, the locationspecification information uses the name or address (such as “A1”representing column A on the first row) of a cell corresponding to thelocation. When the document is HTML data, the location specificationinformation uses attribute information such as NAME and ID of an HTMLnode corresponding to the location. When the document is an ordinarydocument file, the location specification information uses a pagenumber, a line number, and a character number corresponding to thelocation. These pieces of location specification information are justprovided as examples and the embodiment is not limited thereto.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the inputoperation information according to the first embodiment.

Input operation information 0610 represents an example of data acquiredwhen a transcription operation is performed from a document for thespreadsheet application to a document for the browser. An item 0611shows that the time for the operation is “08/09/07 10:07:01.” An item0612 shows that the user name for the operation is “user B.” An item0613 shows that the operation name for the operation is “transcription.”An item 0615 shows “C: ¥a.xls” and “B2” as the document specificationinformation and the location specification information respectivelyabout the copy origin of the transcription operation. An item 0618 shows“http://b . . . ” and “input_(—)1” as the document specificationinformation and the location specification information respectivelyabout the paste destination of the transcription operation. An item 0621shows “1000 yen” as the transcribed value of the transcriptionoperation.

Input operation information 0640 shows an example of data acquired whena change operation is performed on a browser document. An item 0641shows that the time for the operation is “08/09/10 08:50:44.” An item0642 shows that the user name for the operation is “user B.” An item0643 shows that shows that the operation name for the operation is“change.” An item 0645 shows that “http://b . . . ” and “input_(—)1” asthe document specification information and the location specificationinformation respectively about the change destination of the changeoperation. An item 0648 shows “900 yen” as the changed value of thechange operation.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure and an exampleof the chronological data 0414 in FIG. 4.

The chronological storage program 0411 receives the input operationinformation 0181 from the PC 0102 or the input operation information0182 from the PC 0122 via the communication network 0183. Thechronological data 0143 contains the input operation information 0182chronologically stored in accordance with values of the time 0511 forthe input operation information.

The chronological data 0143 contains columns of id 0701, time 0702, username 0703, operation name 0704, and operation-specific information 0705.The operation-specific information 0705 further contains transcriptioninformation 0711 and change information 0721. The transcriptioninformation 0711 further contains transcription origin information 0712,transcription destination information 0715, and a transcribed value0718.

The transcription origin information 0712 further contains documentspecification information 0713 and location specification information0714. The transcription destination information 0715 further containsdocument specification information 0716 and location specificationinformation 0717.

FIG. 7 shows a table containing many columns. The table is verticallydivided into three parts, i.e., top, middle, and bottom. For example,reference numerals 0741, 0742, and 0743 represent a set of inputoperation information (id=067).

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying the search GUI screen 0164in FIG. 3.

The search GUI screen 0164 contains a search condition input section0165, a search result display section 0166, and a search button 0804.The search condition input section 0165 contains time 0801, documentspecification information 0802, and location specification information0803.

An example in FIG. 8 shows how the administrator 0161 traces and trailsdistribution routes of the value of the location specified by locationspecification information “A1” in the document specified by documentspecification information “C: ¥c.xls.” at the time “08/09/13 10:00:00.”That is, the example shows a situation of recursively or repeatedlyverifying how the value at the specified location is changed andtranscribed.

The administrator 0161 supplies the search condition input section 0165with a condition of searching for the chronological data 0143 and thenclicks the search button 0804.

The search GUI function 0163 detects a click on the search button 0804,acquires item values from the search condition input section 0165, andtransmits the search condition to the chronological search function0144.

The search GUI function 0163 receives a search result from thechronological search function 0144 and displays the result on the searchresult display section 0166.

The search result display section 0166 displays columns of time 0811,user name 0182, operation 0813, and document/location specificationinformation 0814. The document/location specification information 0814further contains document specification information 0815 and locationspecification information 0816.

The search result display section 0166 displays rows of user operationsin the chronological order.

A distribution route display section 0817 shows the following result.

A node 0821 indicates “900 yen” as a value for the location at “A1”specified as the location specification information 0803 in the documentspecified by “C: ¥c.xls” specified as the document specificationinformation 0802 at “08/09/13 10:00:00” specified as the time 0801 theadministrator enters as the search condition. User C transcribes (0822)the value from the location specified by location specificationinformation “input_(—)1” in the document specified by documentspecification information “http://b . . . ” at the time “08/09/1209:03:42.”

A node 0823 indicates that user B changes (0824) “1000 yen” at the time“08/09/10 08:50:44” to the value “900 yen” specified by locationspecification information “input_(—)1” in the document specified bydocument specification information “http://b . . . ” at the time“08/09/12 09:03:42” when the transcription (0822) is performed.

A node 0825 indicates that the value “1000 yen” is specified at thelocation as location specification information “input_(—)1” in thedocument specified by document specification information “http://b . . .” immediately before the time “08/09/10 08:50:44” of the change (0824).User B transcribes (0826) the value from the location specified bylocation specification information “B2” in the document specified bydocument specification information “C: ¥a.xls” at the time “08/09/0710:07:01.”

A node 0827 links to the value “1000 yen” at the location specified bylocation specification information “B2” in the document specified bydocument specification information “C: ¥a.xls” at the time “08/09/0710:07:01” of the transcription (0826) and indicates that user A changesnothing to the value or newly creates the value at the time “08/09/0516:19:20.”

Using this display, the administrator can promptly recognize thedistribution route for the targeted value in the targeted document atthe targeted time.

The example in FIG. 8 makes it possible to easily understand that user Aoriginally creates the value “1000 yen” and user B changes the value to“900 yen” in the middle of the distribution, making this value final.

As a result, the administrator is capable of fast decision making insuch a manner as to immediately inquire user B why he or she changed thevalue.

With reference to FIGS. 9 through 11, the input operation acquisitionfunction will be described in detail.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing the input operation acquisitionfunction for transcription (copy and paste) operation. The example inFIG. 9 shows a sequence along which the user 0101 transcribes a valuefrom document A 0103 to document B 0104 using the PC 0102.

The sequence includes: the OS 0224 of the PC 0102; a clipboard 0901managed by the OS 0224; a document application A 0902 available for thePC 0102; a document A 0103 displayed by the document application A 0902;a document application B 0903 available for the PC 0102; a document B0104 displayed by the document application B 0903; an input operationinformation acquisition function 0109 available for the PC 0102; inputoperation information 0181 generated by the input operation informationacquisition function 0109; and the chronological storage function 0142that is available for the chronological management server 0141 andcommunicates with the input operation information acquisition function0109 to receive the input operation information 0181.

The sequence broadly includes a partial sequence 0910 for copy operationand a partial sequence 0920 for paste operation. Each sequence includessets of operations and accesses that are represented by blank boxes inFIG. 9. Time is assumed to progress from top to bottom in FIG. 9.

The partial sequence 0910 for copy operation includes partial sequences0911 and 0912.

According to the partial sequence 0911, the user 0101 copies thedocument A 0103 at a given location. The document application A 0902receives an instruction from the OS 0224, reads a value from thelocation of the document A, and writes the value to the clipboard 0901.

According to the partial sequence 0912, the input operation informationacquisition function 0109 receives a copy operation event from the OS0224. The input operation information acquisition function 0109 thenacquires the document specification information and the locationspecification information about the document and the location for thecopy from the document application A 0902. The input operationinformation acquisition function 0109 stores the information in thetranscription origin information 0521 of the input operation information0181.

The partial sequence 0920 for paste operation includes partial sequences0921 and 0922.

According to the partial sequence 0921, the user 0101 performs a pasteoperation to a given location of the document B 0104. The documentapplication B 0903 receives an instruction from the OS 0224, reads thevalue from the clipboard 0901, and writes the value to the correspondinglocation of the document B.

According to the partial sequence 0922, the input operation informationacquisition function 0109 receives a paste operation event from the OS0224. The input operation information acquisition function 0109 thenacquires the document specification information and the locationspecification information about the document and the location for thepaste, and the pasted value. The input operation information acquisitionfunction 0109 respectively stores the information and the value in thetranscription destination information 0522 and the transcribed value0527 of the input operation information 0181.

The input operation information acquisition function 0109 acquires thetime and the user and respectively stores them in the time 0511 and theuser name 0512 of the input operation information 0181. The inputoperation information acquisition function 0109 stores “transcription”in the operation name 0513 and finally transmits the input operationinformation 0181 to the chronological storage function 0142.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of the input operation acquisitionfunction for change operation. The example in FIG. 10 shows a sequencealong which the user 0121 changes a value of a document C 0104 using thePC 0122.

The sequence includes: an OS 1001 of the PC 0122; a document applicationC 1002 available for the PC 0122; a document C 0124 displayed by thedocument application C 1002; an input operation information acquisitionfunction 0129 available for the PC 0122; input operation information0182 generated by the input operation information acquisition function0129; and a chronological storage function 0142 that is available forthe chronological management server 0141 and communicates with the inputoperation information acquisition function 0129 to receive the inputoperation information 0182.

The sequence includes partial sequences 1011 and 1012.

According to the partial sequence 1011, the user 0121 performs a changeoperation at a given location of the document C 0124. The documentapplication C 1002 receives an instruction from the OS 1001 and changesa value at the location of the document C.

According to the partial sequence 1012, the input operation informationacquisition function 0129 receives a change operation event from the OS1001. The input operation information acquisition function 0129 acquiresthe document specification information and the location specificationinformation about the document and the location for the change and thechanged value from the document application C 1002. The input operationinformation acquisition function 0129 respectively stores theinformation and the value in the change destination information 0541 andthe changed value 0544 of the input operation information 0182. Theinput operation information acquisition function 0129 further acquiresthe time and the user name and respectively stores them in the time 0511and the user name 0512 of the input operation information 0181. Theinput operation information acquisition function 0129 stores “change” inthe operation name 0513 and finally transmits the input operationinformation 0182 to the chronological storage function 0142.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of the input operation acquisition function.The OS of the PC 0102 or 0122 performs the input operation acquisitionfunction in accordance with the flow in FIG. 11 each time the user 0101or 0121 performs copy, paste, or change to generate a related event.

The flow begins with a start terminal 1101, uses event information 1102as input from the OS, and ends with an end terminal 1112. The eventinformation includes event names such as copy, paste, and change as wellas information for identifying a document application where the eventoccurred.

The flow branches at a connector 1103 to a block 1150 related totranscription operation and a block 1153 related to change operation inaccordance with event names.

The block 1150 related to transcription operation is further dividedinto blocks 1151 and 1152. The block 1151 is performed when the eventname equals “copy.” The block 1152 is performed when the event nameequals “paste.”

The block 1153 related to change operation is performed when the eventname equals “change.”

The following describes the block 1151 performed when the event nameequals “copy.” At Step 1131, the function clears the buffer for storingthe input operation information. At Step 1132, the function acquires thedocument specification information and the location specificationinformation about the document and the location for the copy from thedocument application the user uses for the copy operation. The functionstores the acquired information in the transcription origin information0521 of the input operation information 0181 or 0182.

The following describes the block 1152 performed when the event nameequals “paste.”

At Step 1133, the function acquires the document specificationinformation and the location specification information about thedocument and the location for the paste from the document applicationthe user uses for the paste operation. The function stores the acquiredinformation in the transcription origin information 0524 of the inputoperation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1134, the function acquires the current time to perform thepaste and stores the acquired time in the time 0511 of the inputoperation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1135, the function acquires the user name such as a login nameof a user who uses the PC 0102 or 0122. The function stores the acquireduser name in the user name 0512 of the input operation information 0181or 0182.

At Step 1136, the function stores “transcription” in the operation name0513 of the input operation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1137, the function acquires the value pasted from the documentapplication and stores the value in the transcribed value 0527 of theinput operation information 0181 or 0182. At Step 1138, the functiontransmits the input operation information 0181 or 0182 to thechronological storage function 0144 of the chronological managementserver 0141.

Finally, the following describes the block 1153 performed when the eventname equals “change.” At Step 1104, the function clears the buffer forstoring the input operation information.

At Step 1105, the function acquires the document specificationinformation and the location specification information about thedocument and the location for the change from the document applicationthe user uses for the change operation. The function stores the acquiredinformation in the change destination information 0541 of the inputoperation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1106, the function acquires the current time to perform thechange operation and stores the acquired time in the time 0511 of theinput operation information 0181 or 0182. At Step 1107, the functionacquires the user name such as a login name of a user who uses the PC0102 or 0122. The function stores the acquired user name in the username 0512 of the input operation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1108, the function stores “change” in the operation name 0513 ofthe input operation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1109, the function acquires the changed value from the documentapplication and stores the acquired value in the changed value 0527 ofthe input operation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1138, the function transmits the input operation information0181 or 0182 to the chronological storage function 0144 of thechronological management server 0141.

As mentioned above, the function can acquire the input operationinformation about transcription and change operations performed by theuser.

With reference to FIGS. 12 and 13, the following describes thechronological search function 0144 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram showing the chronological search function 0144of the chronological management server 0141. The flow begins with astart terminal 1201, uses a search condition 1201 received from thesearch GUI function 0163, outputs a search result 1219, and ends with anend terminal 1220. The search condition 1201 includes the time, thedocument specification information, and the location specificationinformation the administrator 0161 entered into the search conditioninput section 0165.

The flow follows the search condition 1201 in the form ofsearch_condition.time as the time point,search_condition.document_specification_information as the document, andsearch_condition.location_specification_information as the location. Thefunction extracts all records associated with transcription and changeroutes to the specified location of the specified document at thespecified time point from the chronological data 0143.

At Step 1202, the function uses the search condition 1201 and searchesthe chronological data 0143 for the last record (called a terminalrecord) that is available at or earlier than search_condition.time andis associated with the document and the location specified bysearch_condition.document_specification_information andsearch_condition.location_specification_information. The function thenoutput the associated id (0701). The detail will be described later withreference to FIG. 13.

The flow branches at a connector 1204 in accordance with the value ofid_last. The flow skips to a connector 1216 when id_last equals 0, i.e.,when a record matching the search condition is not found. The flowbranches to Step 1205 when id_last is greater than or equal to 1. AtStep 1205, the function assigns the value of id_last to counter j.

At Step 1206, the function uses a search result buffer to add and storedata for the jth record (hereafter represented as input operationinformation [j]) in the chronological data 0143.

At a connector 1207, the flow branches to Step 1209 when the operationname of input operation information [j] equals “transcription.” The flowbranches to Step 1208 when the operation name thereof equals “change.”The operation name of input operation information [j] is hereafterrepresented as input_operation_information_[j].operation_name using “.”as a symbol, for example.

At Step 1208, the function assumes a search target to be as follows.

search_target.document_specification_information=input_operation_information_[j].change_destination_information.document_specification_information,search_target.location_specification_information=input_operation_information_[j].change_destination_information.location_specification_information

At Step 1209, the function assumes a search target to be as follows.

search_target.document_specification_information=input_operation_information_[j].transcription_origin_information.document_specification_information,search_target.location_specification_information=input_operation_information_[j].transcription_origin_information.location_specification_information

At Step 1211, the function assigns value j-1 to counter i

The flow branches at a connector 1213 in accordance with value i. Theflow branches to the connector 1216 when value i equals 0, i.e., whenthe search is complete up to the oldest record in the chronologicaldata. The flow branches to the connector 1214 when value i is greaterthan or equal to 1.

At the connector 1214, the function determines whether or not the ithrecord in the chronological data 0143 satisfies conditional equation:CONDITION1 OR CONDITION2. The flow branches to Step 1217 when thecondition is satisfied. The flow branches to Step 1215 otherwise.

The conditions CONDITION1 and CONDITION2 are expressed as follows.

CONDITION1:=

{input_operation_information[i].transcription_destination_information.document_specification_information==search_target.document_specification_information}AND

{input_operation_information[i].transcription_destination_information.location_specification_information==search_target.location_specification_information}

CONDITION2:=

{input_operation_information[i].change_destination_information.document_specification_information==search_target.document_specification_information}AND

{input_operation_information[i].change_destination_information.location_specification_information==search_target.location_specification_information}

At Step 1215, the function decrements counter i, passes a connector1212, and reaches the connector 1213.

At Step 1217, the function assigns the value of counter i to counter j.At Step 1218, the function transmits the search result 1219 stored inthe search result buffer to the search GUI function.

The configuration of the search result 1219 is similar to that of thechronological data 0143 and an illustration is omitted for simplicity.The configuration of the search result 1219 is just limited to a recordthat is added and stored at Step 1206.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing a terminal record search.

The flow begins with a start terminal 1301, uses a search result 1201 asinput, outputs id_last (1310) as id of a terminal record matching thesearch result 1201, and ends with an end terminal 1311.

At Step 1303, the function assigns the value of counter i the totalnumber of records N for the input operation information stored in thechronological data 0143.

At a connector 1304, the flow branches to a connector 1307 when thevalue of counter i equals 0, i.e., all records are searched. The flowbranches to a connector 1305 otherwise.

At the connector 1305, the flow branches to a connector 1306 when theith record of the chronological data 0143 satisfies a conditionalequation: input_operation_information[i].time<=search_condition.time,i.e., the ith record is older than the time specified in the searchcondition. The flow branches to Step 1308 otherwise.

At the connector 1306, the function determines whether or not the ithrecord of the chronological data 0143 satisfies a conditional equation:CONDITION3 OR CONDITION4. The flow branches to Step 1307 when thecondition is satisfied. The flow branches to Step 1308 otherwise.

The conditions CONDITION3 and CONDITION4 are expressed as follows.

CONDITION3:=

{input_operation_information[i].transcription_destination_information.document_specification_information==search_condition.document_specification_information}AND

{input_operation_information[i].transcription_destination_information.location_specification_information==search_condition.location_specification_information}

CONDITION4:=

{input_operation_information[i].change_destination_information.document_specification_information==search_condition.document_specification_information}AND

{input_operation_information[i].change_destination_information.location_(—)specification_information==search_condition.location_specification_information}

CONDITION3 determines whether or not the ith record of the chronologicaldata 0143 indicates the transcription operation corresponding to thedocument and the location specified in the search condition. CONDITION4determines whether or not the ith record of the chronological data 0143indicates the change operation corresponding to the document and thelocation specified in the search condition.

At Step 1309, the function assigns the value of counter i to the outputresult id_last (1310).

As mentioned above, the function follows the search condition 1201entered by the administrator 0161 in the form of search_condition.timeas the time point, search_condition.document_specification_informationas the document, and search_condition.location_specification_informationas the location. The function can extract all records associated withtranscription and change routes to the specified location of thespecified document at the specified time point from the chronologicaldata 0143.

Second Embodiment

According to the first embodiment, the user's transcription operation isassumed to be copy and paste (or cut and paste) using the clipboard.During an actual PC operation, however, the user may visually transcribeinformation from one document to another without using the clipboard. Insuch case, the following problem may occur.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a visualtranscription operation.

A conceptual diagram 1400 schematically shows a situation where the user0101 performs visual transcription 1401 to transcribe information fromthe document A (0103) to the document B (0104).

A conceptual diagram 1410 schematically shows a time chart along whichthe user 0101 performs the visual transcription 1401 to transcribeinformation from a window screen 1403 for the document A (0103) to awindow screen 1404 for the document B (0104).

Reference numerals 1402, 1403, and 1404 denote window screens that areactive during corresponding time periods.

As seen from the conceptual diagram 1410, the window screen 1402displays the document C immediately before time 1411 and maintains“A1000” as a value at a location 1421. The window screen 1403 displaysthe document A immediately before time 1412 and maintains “1000 yen” asa value at a location 1422.

The time 1411 represents an instant when the active window screen ischanged from 1402 to 1403. The time 1412 represents an instant when theactive window screen is changed from 1403 to 1404.

Time 1413 represents an instant when the user 0101 changes the value ata location 1423 of the document B to “1000.”

According to the situation shown in the conceptual diagram 1410, theuser 0101 visually checks the window screen 1403 and temporarilymemorizes the value “1000 yen” at the location 1422 of the document B.The user 0101 then changes the window screen to 1404 at the time 1412and changes the value at the location (1422) of the document A to “1000”at the time 1413.

During an actual PC operation, the user may visually transcribe databetween active windows.

In such case, the PC causes only a change event, not a copy and pasteevent, to occur.

The first embodiment records the visual transcription as a changeoperation and prevents the data distribution route from being traced toearlier states. A second embodiment describes a method of adding thevisual transcription as a transcription operation to the firstembodiment.

As mentioned above, the user performs visual transcription bytemporarily memorizing a value on one window screen and entering thevalue to another window screen.

In other words, a newly input value is highly likely to be imported fromthe immediately displayed window screen.

When this is taken into account, the visual transcription origin can beestimated. The principle will be described with reference to FIGS. 15and 16.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of estimating avisual transcription origin.

The estimation principle calculates scores for similarities of multiplevisual transcription origin candidates. The principle assumes theoperation to be visual transcription rather than change when one or morecandidates are given scores greater than or equal to a threshold value.The higher score a candidate is given, the more likely the candidate isassumed to be the true transcription origin.

The calculation of a simplest score method is based on two factors.

Let us consider an example of estimating a transcription origin of thevalue “1000” input to the location 1423. Using this example, thefollowing describes a method of calculating score h₁ for the value “1000yen” recorded at the location 1422 on the immediately preceding windowscreen 1403.

In the description to follow, a subscript 1 denotes a candidate 1(location 1422) for the visual transcription origin. A subscript 2denotes a candidate 2 (location 1421) for the visual transcriptionorigin.

The first factor is likelihood L₁(1501) of a character string.

The more a character string at the location 1422 is approximate to thevalue at the location 1423, the more likely the character string isassumed to be the true transcription origin.

The method compares two character strings to find L₁. A specific methodof calculating the character string likelihood may be available as anexisting mathematical technique such as Trigam or Levenshtein distanceand a description is omitted for simplicity.

The second factor is a time interval Δt₁ (1511) between the time tosupply the location 1423 with the value and the time to most recentlydisplay the location 1422.

When the human temporally memorizes information, the accuracy of theinformation tends to degrade as the time progresses. When the propertyof visual transcription is taken into consideration, decreasing the timeinterval Δt₁ (>0) increases possibility of the true transcription originat the location 1422.

According to the above-mentioned consideration, for example, thefollowing equation 1 may be used to calculate a score and estimate anappropriate transcription origin. In the equation, τ is a positiveconstant that represents an attenuation effect of the human memory.

$\begin{matrix}{\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1} \rbrack \mspace{515mu}} & \; \\{h_{1} = {L_{1}{\exp ( {- \frac{\Delta_{t\; 1}}{\tau}} )}}} & ( {{equation}\mspace{14mu} 1} )\end{matrix}$

Similarly, the following equation 2 may be used to find candidate 2(location 1421) for the visual transcription origin.

$\begin{matrix}{\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2} \rbrack \mspace{515mu}} & \; \\{h_{2} = {L_{2}{\exp ( {- \frac{\Delta_{t\; 2}}{\tau}} )}}} & ( {{equation}\mspace{14mu} 2} )\end{matrix}$

When such principle is used to calculate scores, it is possible todetermine that a transcription origin candidate with a higher score ismore likely to be the true transcription origin.

In order to provide a more sophisticated score calculation method, it iseffective to use a score concerning the caption for the location inaddition to the likelihood of character strings and the attenuationeffect of the human memory.

The caption for the location signifies character information such as“price” or “quantity” that is attached to the beginning or the top ofthe location and modifies the location.

In FIG. 15, for example, the transcription origin candidate 1 (location1421) is assumed to have caption “money amount.” The transcriptionorigin candidate 2 (location 1422) is assumed to have caption“quantity.” The location 1423 for the transcription destination isassumed to have caption “price.”

In such case, the candidate 1 is more likely to be the truetranscription origin when the candidates 1 and 2 are compared to eachother.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a table for categorizinglocation captions.

For example, a row 1611 contains a caption “price.” A row 1612 containsa caption “money amount.” A row 1613 contains a caption “tax-inclusiveprice.” These captions are all belong to a category “price.”

Using this table, the following equation 3 can calculate a score forcandidate i, for example.

$\begin{matrix}{\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3} \rbrack \mspace{515mu}} & \; \\{h_{1} = {\lambda \; L_{i}{\exp ( {- \frac{\Delta_{t\; i}}{\tau}} )}}} & ( {{equation}\mspace{14mu} 3} )\end{matrix}$

The value of parameter λ is found by equation 4 as follows depending onwhether or not the caption for the transcription destination locationand the caption for the location of the transcription origin candidatebelong to the same category of the table in FIG. 16.

$\begin{matrix}{\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 4} \rbrack \mspace{515mu}} & \; \\{\lambda = \{ \begin{matrix}1 & ( {{same}\mspace{14mu} {category}} ) \\\rho & ( {{different}\mspace{14mu} {category}} )\end{matrix} } & ( {{equation}\mspace{14mu} 4} )\end{matrix}$

In this equation, ρ is a constant that satisfies the condition 0<ρ<1.

The method can calculate scores based on the information about thelocation caption in addition to the likelihood of character strings andthe attenuation effect of the human memory. The true transcriptionorigin can be determined more accurately.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of inputoperation information for visual transcription operation.

Operation-specific information 1701 includes transcription destinationinformation 1702, transcribed value 1705, and information 1706 about atranscription origin candidate having the highest score.

For example, the information 1706 about the transcription origincandidate includes document specification information 1707, locationspecification information 1708, and a score 1709.

The score 1709 is calculated based on the above-mentioned scoreprinciple.

While the data structure in FIG. 17 records only the transcriptionorigin candidate having the highest score, it is also possible to use adata structure that records multiple transcription origin candidateshaving high scores.

With reference to FIGS. 18 through 20, the following describes the inputoperation acquisition function including the visual transcriptionoperation.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram showing the input operation acquisitionfunction including the visual transcription operation.

The flow in FIG. 18 is an extended version of FIG. 11. The flow beginswith the start terminal 1101, uses the event information 1102 as inputfrom the OS, and ends with the end terminal 1112.

The flow branches at the connector 1103 to the block 1150 related totranscription (copy and paste) operation, a block 1800 related to changeoperation, and a block 1810 related to active window changeover inaccordance with event names.

The block 1150 related to transcription operation is described withreference to FIG. 11 and a description is omitted for simplicity.

The block 1800 related to change operation is performed when the eventname equals “change.”

At Step 1801, the function clears the buffer for storing the inputoperation information.

At Step 1802, the function acquires the current time to perform thechange operation and stores the acquired time in the time 0511 of theinput operation information 0181 or 0182.

At Step 1803, the function acquires the user name such as a login nameof a user who uses the PC 0102 or 0122. The function stores the acquireduser name in the user name 0512 of the input operation information 0181or 0182.

At Step 1804, the function determines the change or the visualtranscription, acquires the respective information, and stores theinformation in the input operation information 0181 or 0182. Step 1804will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. 20.

The block 1810 is related to active window changeover and is performedwhen the event name equals “active window changeover.”

At Step 1811, the function acquires the current time to change theactive window and stores the acquired time in the time 1902 of a displaycharacter string buffer. The display character string buffer will bedescribed later in detail with reference to FIG. 19.

At Step 1812, the function acquires the document specificationinformation about a character string displayed in the most recentlyactive window, the location specification information, the characterstring, and the caption. The function stores the acquired information indocument specification information 1903, location specificationinformation 1904, character string 1905, and caption 1906 of the displaycharacter string buffer, respectively.

At Step 1813, the function deletes old data available at or before atime point that precedes the current time for a threshold value T_(th).

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying data configuration of thedisplay character string buffer.

The display character string buffer includes such columns as an id 1901,a display time 1902, document specification information 1903, locationspecification information 1904, a character string 1905, and a caption1906 corresponding to the location.

According to data on a row 1911, for example, the active window ischanged at the time “08/09/07 10:01:458.” The window screen before thechangeover displays a character string “A1000” at the location specifiedby the location specification information “p_code” in the documentspecified by the document specification information “http://d . . . ”The location caption is “model.”

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram showing a process of determining change orvisual transcription and acquiring related information.

The flow begins with a start terminal 2000 and ends with an end terminal2017.

At Step 2001, the function supplies the counter i with the number ofcharacter strings M stored in the display character string buffer andsupplies a maximum score h_(max) with 0.

At Step 2002, the function acquires a changed value from the documentapplication used for the change operation.

At a connector 2003, the flow branches to a connector 2020 when thevalue of the counter i equals 0. The flow branches to a connector 2004when the value of the counter i is greater than 0.

At Step 2004, the function calculates a score h[i] for the changed valuecorresponding to the ith character string in the display characterstring buffer.

At a connector 2005, the flow branches to Step 2012 when condition:h[i]<=h_(th) is satisfied. The flow branches to Step 2006 whencondition: h[i]>h_(th) is satisfied.

At the connector 2006, the flow branches to Step 2012 when condition:h[i]<=h_(max) is satisfied. The flow branches to Step 2007 whencondition: h[i]>h_(max) is satisfied.

At Step 2007, the function assigns the value of h[i] to h_(max).

At Step 2008, the function stores “visual transcription” in theoperation name 0513 of the input operation information.

At Step 2009, the function acquires the document specificationinformation about the targeted document and the location specificationinformation about the targeted location from the document applicationused for the change operation. The function stores the acquiredinformation in transcription destination information 1705 of theoperation-specific information 1701 in the input operation information.

At Step 2010, the function stores the ith data of the display characterstring buffer in transcription origin information 1702.

At Step 2011, the function stores the changed value acquired at Step2002 in transcribed value 1708.

At Step 2012, the function decrements the counter i.

At the connector 2020, the flow branches to Step 2021 when the highestscore h_(max) equals 0, i.e., when the display character string bufferdoes not contain data whose score is greater than or equal to thresholdvalue h_(th). The flow branches to a connector 2024 when the highestscore h_(max) is greater than 0.

At Step 2021, the function stores “change” in the operation name 0513 ofinput operation information.

At Step 2022, the function acquires the document specificationinformation about the targeted document and the location specificationinformation about the targeted location from the document application.The function then stores the acquired information in the changedestination information 0541 of the operation-specific information 0540in the input operation information.

At Step 2023, the function stores the changed value acquired at Step2002 in the changed value 0544 of the operation-specific information0540 in the input operation information.

Adding the visual transcription operation causes a minimal change in thesearch function described with reference to FIG. 12. The followingdescribes only differences.

At the connector 1207 in FIG. 12, the flow branches to Step 1209 whenthe following condition is satisfied.

input_operation_information[j].operation_name==“transcription”

When the visual transcription operation is included, the condition isreplaced by:

{input_operation_information[j].operation_name==“transcription”} OR{input_operation_information[j].operation_name==“visual transcription”}

Even when the visual transcription operation is performed, theabove-mentioned method can acquire the input operation information aboutthe user. This makes it possible to trace the data distribution routeearlier than the time when the visual transcription operation isperformed.

The present invention provides a technology useful for acquiring andmanaging trails in a system that manages trails such as corporateactivities.

1. A trail management method using a process section to acquire andmanage contents of an operation performed by a user in a computer havingan operation function comprising a document transcription function,wherein the process section acquires operation information including:time of a transcription operation performed by the user a name of theuser; a value transcribed by the transcription operation; documentspecification information that specifies a transcription origin documentin the transcription operation; location specification information thatspecifies a transcription origin location in the transcription origindocument; document specification information that specifies atranscription destination document in the transcription operation; andlocation specification information that specifies a transcriptiondestination location in the transcription destination document; andwherein the process section stores the acquired operation information inchronological data, searches for the chronological data in accordancewith a search condition for searching for the chronological data, andoutputs a searched result.
 2. The trail management method according toclaim 1, wherein the operation function of the computer comprise achange function for a document; and wherein, when the user performs achange operation, the process section acquires change operationinformation as the operation information; and wherein the changeoperation information includes: time to perform the change operation; aname of the user; a value changed by the change operation; documentspecification information that specifies a change destination documentin the change operation; and location specification information thatspecifies a change destination location in the change destinationdocument.
 3. The trail management method according to claim 2, whereinthe search condition comprise time, document specification information,and location specification information; and wherein the process sectionsearches for the chronological data with respect to a search targetspecified by location specification information of the search conditionin a document specified by document specification information of thesearch condition at time in the search condition, repeatedly searchesfor a transcription origin corresponding to the search target, extractsa historical route for the transcription operation and the changeoperation up to the search target, and outputs the extracted historicalroute.
 4. The trail management method according to claim 2, wherein thecomputer comprise an operation changeover function for changing anactive window that displays a document; wherein, when the user performsa changeover operation on an active window, the process section acquiresand stores time to perform the changeover operation, documentspecification information for specifying a document displayed on awindow screen being active before the changeover operation, locationspecification information for specifying a location displayed on thedocument, and a value given to the location; wherein, when the userperforms a change operation, the process section acquires time toperform the change operation and a changed value resulting from thechange operation, calculates a score for each of the stored locationsbased on likelihood as a character string between a value given to thelocation and the changed value and based on a time interval between timeto perform the changeover operation for storing the location and time toperform the change operation, and assumes the change operation to be avisual transcription operation performed by the user when a highestscore is given to one of all the stored locations and the highest scoreis greater than or equal to a threshold value; and wherein the processsection acquires the operation information assuming that: time toperform the change operation is equivalent to time to perform the visualtranscription operation; a changed value during the change operation isequivalent to a transcribed value during the visual transcriptionoperation; document specification information about a location havingthe highest score is equivalent to document specification informationfor specifying a transcription origin document during the visualtranscription operation; location specification information about alocation having the highest score is equivalent to locationspecification information for specifying a transcription origin locationduring the visual transcription operation; document specificationinformation for specifying a change destination document during thechange operation is equivalent to document specification information forspecifying a transcription destination document during the visualtranscription operation; and location specification information forspecifying a change destination location in the change destinationdocument is equivalent to location specification information forspecifying a transcription destination location during the visualtranscription operation.
 5. The trail management method according toclaim 4, wherein the search condition comprise time, documentspecification information, and location specification information; andwherein the process section searches for the chronological data withrespect to a search target specified by location specificationinformation of the search condition in a document specified by documentspecification information of the search condition at time in the searchcondition, repeatedly searches for a transcription origin correspondingto the search target, extracts a historical route for the transcriptionoperation, the change operation, and the visual transcription operationup to the search target, and outputs the extracted historical route. 6.The trail management method according to claim 5, wherein the processsection acquires caption information about each location of a documentdisplayed on the most recently active window screen, stores tableinformation for categorizing the caption information, and acquirescaption information about a change destination location in the changedestination document; and wherein the process section calculates a scorefor each of the stored locations based on likelihood as a characterstring between a value given to the location and the changed value,based on a time interval between time to perform the changeoveroperation for storing the location and time to perform the changeoperation, and based on determination whether or not caption informationabout the location and caption information about the change destinationlocation belong to the same category in the table information.
 7. Atrail management system that is used for a computer having an operationfunction comprising a document transcription function and is providedwith a process section and a storage section for acquiring and managingcontents of an operation performed by a user, wherein the processsection includes: an operation information acquisition function foracquiring operation information containing time of a transcriptionoperation performed by the user, a name of the user, a value transcribedby the transcription operation, document specification information thatspecifies a transcription origin document in the transcriptionoperation, location specification information that specifies atranscription origin location in the transcription origin document,document specification information that specifies a transcriptiondestination document in the transcription operation, and locationspecification information that specifies a transcription destinationlocation in the transcription destination document; a chronologicalstorage function for storing the operation information, acquired by theoperation information acquisition function, as chronological data in thestorage section; a chronological search function for searching for thechronological data stored in the storage section in accordance with asearch condition for searching for the chronological data; and a searchresult output function for outputting a search result from thechronological search function.
 8. The trail management system accordingto claim 7, wherein the operation function of the computer comprise achange function for a document; and wherein, when the change functionperforms a change operation on the document, the operation informationacquisition function of the process section acquires, as the operationfunction, change operation information containing time to perform thechange operation, a name of the user, a value changed by the changeoperation, document specification information that specifies a changedestination document in the change operation; and location specificationinformation that specifies a change destination location in the changedestination document.
 9. The trail management system according to claim8, wherein the search condition comprise the time, the documentspecification information, and the location specification information;wherein the chronological search function searches for the chronologicaldata with respect to a search target specified by location specificationinformation of the search condition in a document specified by documentspecification information of the search condition at time in the searchcondition, repeatedly searches for a transcription origin correspondingto the search target, and extracts a historical route for thetranscription operation and the change operation up to the searchtarget; and wherein the search result output function outputs theextracted historical route.
 10. The trail management system according toclaim 8, wherein the computer comprise an operation function thatchanges an active window screen for displaying a document; wherein theoperation information acquisition function of the process sectionincludes a display character string storage function and a visualtranscription operation information acquisition function; wherein, whenthe user changes an active window screen, the display character stringstorage function acquires and stores time to perform the changeoveroperation, document specification information for specifying a documentdisplayed on a window screen being active before the changeoveroperation, location specification information for specifying a locationdisplayed on the document, and a value given to the location; andwherein, when the user performs a change operation, the visualtranscription operation information acquisition function acquires timeto perform the change operation and a changed value resulting from thechange operation, calculates a score for each of the locations stored bythe display character string storage function based on likelihood as acharacter string between a value given to the location and the changedvalue and based on a time interval between time to perform thechangeover operation for storing the location and time to perform thechange operation, assumes the change operation to be a visualtranscription operation performed by the user when a highest score isgiven to one of all locations stored by the display character stringstorage function and the highest score is greater than or equal to athreshold value, and acquires the operation information assuming that:time to perform the change operation is equivalent to time to performthe visual transcription operation; a name of the user and a changedvalue during the change operation are equivalent to a transcribed valueduring the visual transcription operation; document specificationinformation about a location having the highest score is equivalent todocument specification information for specifying a transcription origindocument during the visual transcription operation; locationspecification information about a location having the highest score isequivalent to location specification information for specifying atranscription origin location during the visual transcription operation;document specification information for specifying a change destinationdocument during the change operation is equivalent to documentspecification information for specifying a transcription destinationdocument during the visual transcription operation; and locationspecification information for specifying a change destination locationin the change destination document is equivalent to locationspecification information for specifying a transcription destinationlocation during the visual transcription operation.
 11. The trailmanagement system according to claim 10, wherein the search conditioncomprise time, document specification information, and locationspecification information; wherein the chronological search functionsearches for the chronological data with respect to a search targetspecified by location specification information of the search conditionin a document specified by document specification information of thesearch condition at time in the search condition, repeatedly searchesfor a transcription origin corresponding to the search target, extractsa historical route for the transcription operation, the changeoperation, and the visual transcription operation up to the searchtarget; and wherein the search result output function outputs theextracted historical route.
 12. The trail management system according toclaim 11, wherein the display character string storage function acquirescaption information about each location of a document displayed on themost recently active window screen; wherein the visual transcriptionoperation information acquisition function stores table information forcategorizing the caption information and acquires caption informationabout a change destination location in the change destination document;and wherein the visual transcription operation information acquisitionfunction calculates a score for each of the locations stored by thedisplay character string storage function based on likelihood as acharacter string between a value given to the location and the changedvalue, based on a time interval between time to perform the changeoveroperation for storing the location and time to perform the changeoperation, and based on determination whether or not caption informationabout the location and caption information about the change destinationlocation belong to the same category in the table information.
 13. Atrail management program executed in a process section that is includedin a computer having an operation function including a documenttranscription function and acquires and manages contents of an operationperformed by a user, the program comprising: an operation informationacquisition function for acquiring operation information including timeof a transcription operation performed by the user, a name of the user,a value transcribed by the transcription operation, documentspecification information for specifying a transcription origin documentduring the transcription operation, location specification informationfor specifying a transcription origin location in the transcriptionorigin document, document specification information for specifying atranscription destination document during the transcription operation,and location specification information for specifying a transcriptiondestination location in the transcription destination document; achronological storage function for storing, as chronological data, theoperation information acquired by the operation information acquisitionfunction; a chronological search function for searching for thechronological data in accordance with a search condition for searchingfor the chronological data; and a search result output function foroutputting a search result from the chronological search function. 14.The trail management program according to claim 13, wherein theoperation function of the computer comprise a document change function;wherein the operation information acquisition function acquires, as theoperation information, change operation information including documentspecification information and location specification information;wherein the document specification information specifies time of achange operation performed by the change function on the document, aname of the user, a value changed by the change operation, and a changedestination document during the change operation; and wherein thelocation specification information specifies a change destinationlocation in the change destination document.
 15. The trail managementprogram according to claim 13, wherein the search condition comprise thetime, the document specification information, and the locationspecification information; wherein the chronological search functionsearches for the chronological data with respect to a search targetspecified by location specification information of the search conditionin a document specified by document specification information of thesearch condition at time in the search condition, repeatedly searchesfor a transcription origin corresponding to the search target, andextracts a historical route for the transcription operation and thechange operation up to the search target; and wherein the search resultoutput function outputs the extracted historical route.